Overview
- Beach took the oath Monday at Chicago-Kent College of Law, becoming the first new leader of the county’s judiciary in nearly 24 years.
- His office is reviewing actions in the Lawrence Reed case after reports showed repeated violations of home detention before the Blue Line attack.
- One change under consideration is restoring escalated electronic-monitoring alerts to the State’s Attorney, with the two offices disputing why the practice was paused.
- Responsibility for most monitoring moved from the Sheriff to the court on April 1, leaving the court-run program without arrest powers and outside FOIA, which complicates enforcement and transparency.
- State rules allow 16 hours of weekly ‘essential’ movement and define escape after 48 hours away, while records show dozens of murder or sex-crime defendants remain on monitors.